Sensational Sainz holds off Norris and Hamilton to win Singapore Grand Prix

With the sun having set, and the lights turned on, we were set for what was sure to be a fascinating evening in Singapore. With Sainz on pole, and Verstappen and Perez outside the top-10, the paddock wondered if we would get the first non-Red Bull victory of the season.

But we were two drivers short on the grid as, while Zhou was starting in the pit lane with Alfa Romeo making changes to his C43, Stroll and Aston Martin had elected to withdraw the Canadian racer from Sunday’s event, with him still suffering from the effects of his hefty qualifying crash.

A couple of minutes before the race start, the blankets were lifted showing the tyres each driver had opted to use at the first stint. Plenty selected the mediums while Leclerc, Tsunoda, Zhou, and Piastri chose the softs, with the Red Bulls and Bottas on the hards.

It was a brilliant start for Ferrari as the lights went out. Sainz kept a hold of the lead and his team mate Leclerc was able to jump ahead of Russell, with the Mercedes driver also losing out to his team mate, Hamilton, who made his way up from fifth to third.

“Is he gonna let me past?” exclaimed Russell on the radio, after Hamilton went off track at Turn 1 to gain the place. Hamilton obliged, as he let Russell through on the next lap.

Tsunoda’s race was over as soon as it began on the first lap as he pulled over with a puncture, with replays showing a collision with Perez had caused the damage.

Further back Alonso and Ocon moved up to sixth and seventh after jumping ahead of Magnussen in the opening exchanges, with Verstappen up to ninth from P11. Alfa Romeo then made the first stop of the day with Zhou swapping his softs for hards.

While Hamilton had given the place back to Russell, Norris – now in fifth – was not happy either, as he also came on the radio pleading for the Mercedes driver to give the position back, which he later did.

On Lap 7, despite Magnussen’s staunch defence, Verstappen dived down the inside of the Haas racer at Turn 16 for eighth, while his Red Bull team mate Perez overtook Piastri for 13th into Turn 1.

At the front of the field, Leclerc was within a second of Sainz, while Verstappen was showing good race pace to close in on Ocon – who was also looking to make his way past his former Alpine team mate Alonso for sixth.

On Lap 10, Leclerc was told to try and give a three-second gap to Sainz out front, while the comfortable Spaniard came on the radio to say “I could go forever at this pace” as he continued to set the fastest times of the evening.

Elsewhere, Haas had not scored a point since Miami in May, but Magnussen and Hulkenberg were joined at the hip in ninth and 10th, respectively, while Gasly was right behind them looking to pounce on any mistakes.

“I think Carlos is slowing down” said Leclerc on the radio, with the timesheets proving his point, as Lawson in 12th matched the pace of Sainz out front. Further back, Hamilton was beginning to reel in Norris for fourth, as he set the fastest first sector on Lap 14.

On Lap 18, Russell’s engineer told him to keep the pressure on the Ferraris ahead in response to his question about what he needed to do to win the race. But then Piastri was told that there was a possibility of rain hitting the track in five minutes.

And just as that happened the yellow flags were waved as the cameras panned to Turn 8, where Sargeant had gone straight into the barrier. His front wing was now stuck underneath the FW45 as he made his way back to the pits with pieces of carbon fibre spreading over the track as a result.

That triggered the deployment of the Safety Car with the top seven drivers all deciding to dive into the pit lane for some hard tyres, with the Red Bulls electing to stay out on their old hards. This meant Verstappen was up into second, with Perez in fourth.

In the pit stop chaos, both Leclerc and Hamilton ended up being delayed to avoid traffic. The pair were now down in sixth and seventh, while Alonso was seen crossing the line at the pit entry, with race control investigating the incident.

The order at the restart, as the Safety Car peeled off at the end of Lap 22, was Sainz, Verstappen, Russell, Perez, Norris, Leclerc, Hamilton, Alonso, Ocon, and Bottas. Magnussen was 11th, ahead of Gasly, Piastri, Lawson, Hulkenberg, Albon, Zhou and Sargeant.

And Sainz played the restart perfectly as Russell attacked Verstappen, while Norris looked to take Perez for fourth. Behind, Leclerc looked to avoid colliding into Norris at Turn 7, an incident that forced him wide with Hamilton taking advantage to move up to sixth.

Russell eventually overtook Verstappen, while Norris then got past Perez, with Hamilton now having a look at last year’s Singapore GP winner. All while this was happening, Alonso was handed a five-second penalty for crossing the line at the pit entry.

On Lap 24, Norris made a move past Verstappen into Turn 14, while Hamilton eventually got past Perez round the outside on the exit of Turn 7, although the seven-time champion went on the curb and wide at the corner, with the Red Bull driver asking for the position back.

At the front, Russell was incredibly racy as he looked to keep the pressure on Sainz for first place, the Briton within half a second of the Ferrari driver. Elsewhere, Hamilton, was within striking distance of Verstappen for fifth.

Magnussen was then shown the black and white flag for forcing Gasly off the track, right before Hamilton put his good pace and his DRS advantage to use to get past his 2021 title rival Verstappen for fifth, down the inside at Turn 7. The Red Bull driver was then almost immediately under pressure from Leclerc – who had earlier got past Perez.

It was good news for Ferrari as Leclerc made his way past Verstappen down the inside at Turn 7, while Sainz began to eek out a gap. But it was less then positive for Red Bull, as Perez was now under pressure from Alonso for seventh.

“It’s like driving on ice” complained Verstappen as he ran a lonely race in sixth. Out front, Russell had closed the gap to Sainz once again, while the top four – including Norris and Hamilton – were covered by just three seconds.

In the battle for 10th further back, Gasly was incensed by being forced off the track by Magnussen, as the two drivers went wheel-to-wheel through Turn seven and eight, with the Dane holding on for at least another lap.

However, at the same corner on the next lap, Magnussen ran off track handing Gasly 10th, with replays showing the Haas racer going off at Turn 1 and getting his tyres dirty before going off again, thus dropping him down to 16th.

On Lap 38, we were treated to some more excellent wheel-to-wheel action, as Perez, Alonso, and Ocon had a three-way fight for seventh. The Aston Martin racer lost out to Ocon – who moved up to eighth – while Perez stayed ahead, as Gasly – now the fastest driver on track – closed in on the trio.

On the next lap, Ocon showed his strong racing prowess as he forced Perez off-line before making way past at Turn 9. Later in the lap Alonso and Gasly also both made their way past Perez – who boxed for the mediums immediately.

Perez then came back out at the back of the field, with Verstappen also coming in a lap later for a set of the medium tyres, as he came back out in 15th. The Dutch driver’s pit stop pushed Piastri up to ninth, and Lawson to 10th – with the AlphaTauri rookie looking for his first points finish.

Back at the front of the field, Sainz was still holding on to the lead, as Russell, having dropped back, began to close the gap back up. Further back, Alonso – now in seventh – came on the radio to call his car “undriveable”.